Enough Like Home
by Croik
Summary: Not home, but close enough.  KyleRachel, post game.  Sex and booze.


Hotel Dusk, its characters and settings, are property of Cing / Nintendo, and are being used here without permission and for no profit. This fic is rated NC-17 for sexual content.

Written for Silverwind, Valentines 2007

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**Enough Like Home**  
Oneshot

It was a chill October evening when a lone taxi slowed to a halt outside Red Crown's main office. This itself was not a noteworthy occurrence, and it barely registered in the mind of the yet-working Rachel. But there was something familiar about the way the front step creaked beneath the visitor's foot, and it alerted her to the door. In stepped a ghost.

He hadn't changed in anything but wardrobe, and even that was only a slight transformation - the dusty old jacket issued to employees had been replaced by an equally worn trench coat, and he bore no crumpled neckwear. There were familiar circles under his eyes and he smelled like the road. Rachel smiled at him, and offered those three little words she knew he wanted to hear.

"I've got bourbon."

His eyes thinned at their corners.

Twenty minutes later, Rachel unlocked the door to her apartment and let them inside. It was not the first time Kyle Hyde had paid a visit to her modest dwelling, but he looked around it as if needing to be reacquainted. In the end he took a seat at the kitchen table, in the same chair he had occupied last Christmas Eve. Rachel smiled to herself as she poured the bourbon.

"Tonight's Halloween." She slid him a playful eye. "Did you plan it?"

"Didn't realize," Kyle assured, watching the amber liquid crawl up the sides of his glass. "I don't keep track of dates as well as I used to."

"An ironic coincidence, then." They were always ending up together on holidays. Rachel cracked two pairs of ice cubes out of the freezer tray and shared them between the drinks. "Excellent timing, too." She sat down at his right. "I was just thinking of you."

"Oh really?"

He took the first sip. No one knew how to enjoy a good drink quite like Kyle Hyde, and Rachel had to admit she liked to watch. His brow furrowed with the first burn of the alcohol, and gradually relaxed as it spread through his weary limbs. Contentment played at his lips. Rachel liked to imagine that for those few brief seconds, she was witnessing a man fully satisfied with his world and all things in it.

"Good, isn't it?"

Kyle swirled the ice around his glass. "Haven't I always said you have good taste?"

Rachel accepted the compliment gladly, though it did cause her a moment's concern. Normally he would have teased her, but his tone now was only sincere. She rested her chin on her hand, watching him as she tipped her own glass to her lips. "It's been a while, Kyle." She had so many questions, but she would have to be careful in which she voiced - he would only ever answer a few. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

He drank before answering, eyes downcast. "I guess you could say…I found everything I expected to."

That meant no. Rachel took his wrist, holding it - and the glass clasped in his grip - still so she could pour him another round. It was her version of sympathy. "So what do you do now?"

"Don't know yet."

Rachel smiled thinly and set the bottle back down. But before she could withdraw her hand Kyle did the first completely unexpected thing since they first met: he passed the drink to his left hand for his next sip, and made no move to shake her from his right. Determining the act to be deliberate, Rachel stayed where she was.

"You should start by giving Ed a call," she suggested, and when he still made no effort to escape her, she moved her fingertips lightly against the inside of his wrist. "He's been worried about you, you know. We all were."

Kyle smirked dryly at her. "Even you? I told you I'd be back."

For someone so lacking in people skills, he knew her pretty well. "All right, I wasn't worried," Rachel confessed. "Every stray dog finds its way home eventually. But that doesn't mean I was happy 'bout it, either. No woman likes to see a good man walk out of her life."

"Is that so," Kyle chuckled gruffly. "You've better taste in booze than in men, Rachel."

It was an innocent enough comment, though one Rachel couldn't help but wonder if he meant seriously. Surely not even ex-detective Kyle Hyde could know her past romantic failings. She thrust that brief unease aside. "In that case, I just might be perfect for you."

Kyle chuckled again, and tipped his glass in agreement. "Lucky me."

As he drank, he surprised her again. He turned his wrist, shifting his hand outside hers so he could rub the back of her palm. Not as a full gesture of affection, perhaps; explorative, like an old pianist kept away from his ivory too long. It sent a little shiver up Rachel's arm and into her stomach.

It was not in Rachel's nature to keep her thoughts to herself, but she knew calling attention to it with some remark would make Kyle stop, and she dared not risk that. Instead she carried on casually. "So what brought you back? Did you run out of money? Or maybe just clean shirts?"

"I got tired of hotels and bars," Kyle replied, nudging his drink away. Strange, as they hadn't even reduced the bottle to half yet. "Every damn town started looking the same. I wasn't getting anywhere."

"And there's no place like home, hm?"

Kyle snorted, stretching his fingers against her forearm. "Is that what this city is?"

"Isn't it?" Rachel shifted her chair across the tile, and as she moved closer his hand crept further up her arm, halting at the rolled up sleeve of her blouse. "You came back, didn't you?"

Kyle's eyebrow quirked doubtfully. "Having nowhere else to go does not make this home."

"Yes," Rachel laughed, squeezing his forearm. "Yes, it does."

He frowned, still unconvinced, but was seemingly distracted by the contact of skin they shared. Apparently, slipping his fingertips beneath her sleeve to trace her elbow was more fascinating than their conversation. "Maybe…."

He had that look in his eyes - that faraway look Rachel had seen in him too many times before. In the past she would have given almost anything to crawl inside his head when he made it, just to see what he was seeing. Now, she felt she didn't have to. "It's lonely out on the road, huh?"

Kyle continued to frown, his gaze focused on some intangible history. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're acting like you haven't been around a woman in a while," Rachel dared.

That finally got his attention. Kyle's shifting fingers halted as he reeled his mind in to the present. She had played her hand well - normally he probably would have just leaned back and disengaged as smoothly and passively as possible, but that wasn't much of an option with his hand more or less under her shirt. The firing of synapses in his brain played all too clearly across his face.

He sighed. "Not a woman like you, anyway."

What a cruel response. Rachel tilted her head to the side as she tried to puzzle it out. "Like me? You mean, one that knows her liquor?" she teased, trying to prompt some truth from him.

"Something like that," Kyle said with half a grin.

Unsatisfied, Rachel scooted to the edge of her chair. He didn't seem about to reject her, so she leaned forward and pressed a soft, playful kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Mm, a woman who tastes like bourbon," she mused. "What more could Kyle Hyde ask for?"

It wasn't the first time she'd teased him with affection, but this time Kyle didn't urge her back. In fact he was very still, his breath a gentle tickle against her cheek. When she began to retreat a tug against her elbow paused her, and sent a fresh flutter into her chest.

He kissed her. His lips were cracked from lack of moisture, and his unshaved whiskers were just as rough against her chin. She had waited too long for this to be deterred by such slight discomforts. Without waiting to test how genuine he might have been she pressed eagerly against his warm mouth - her bold nature never passed up an opportunity. Kyle responded in kind, curling a hand against the back of her neck in addition to the already tight grip he held on her elbow.

His bitter cynicism had vanished. Rachel knew she was not the greatest judge of character, but she felt a change in him. He was weary, and desperate, and he may have even wanted her.

Rachel shivered, and when they paused for a breath she pushed to her feet. A tug on Kyle's white shirt urged him up as well, where she insisted on another firm kiss. He granted it easily. They twisted together like teenagers, and Rachel didn't realize they'd moved until her shoulder blades stuck the kitchen wall.

Their kiss broke. Rachel kept her fingers tightened in the white cotton fabric of his shirt in hopes of preventing escape. But when he transferred his hands from her to the wall he made no attempt at retreat. Instead, his brow rose. "Seems to me, _you_ haven't been around a man in while," he told her.

Rachel laughed, and had no trouble owning up to the truth. "Maybe I was saving myself," she replied, half sarcastic, as she slid her arms around his neck. "You're not going to disappoint me, are you, handsome?"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Lucky for them, the bedroom was not far from the kitchen. Shed socks and shoes marked their path to a queen size mattress and clean sheets - Rachel's salary wasn't much, but it had to go towards something, after all. When she felt the comforter hit the back of her knees she pushed Kyle's hands to the waist of her skirt.

This was not what he had come for. Rachel could tell, by the way his kiss softened apologetically against her mouth as he undid the hook and two buttons she guided him to. It was sweet of him, not that she would have minded if the opposite were true. She wasn't ashamed to admit that her invitations were rarely innocent. As her skit slipped past her knees she finished undoing his shirt, and spread it open across his chest with a satisfied sigh.

Kyle shrugged out of the garment and let it fall. "You weren't lying, were you," he said, sounding a bit apprehensive.

"Hm?" Rachel honestly forgot what she had said to prompt such a comment. She leaned away only long enough to set her glasses on the bedside table. "I may be a tease, but I don't lie, Kyle Hyde." She rose up on her toes for an enthusiastic kiss that won him over. When she pulled back the bedcovers and climbed onto the mattress, he quickly followed.

Her stockings soon shared the crumpled fate of the rest of her attire, followed by her blouse and at last Kyle's worn slacks, all amidst more hungry kisses. Kyle's hands were dry from the desert and scratched lightly as they moved along her bare ribs. Rachel loved every minute of it. But when his fingertips traced along the line of her bra to its clasp she tugged them away. Smirking, she pushed against his chest to urge him onto his back.

Kyle relented, but his bemused expression didn't last long - he was quickly captivated by the sight of Rachel slipping delicately out of her panties. She flashed him a girlish smile as she reached into his discarded pants for his wallet. "Surprise surprise." A fresh condom was pressed into one of the sections, and she held it lightly in her teeth as she crawled back to Kyle on the bed.

Kyle let out a long sigh as she settled over his hips. "I should have asked you to come with me," he murmured as his hands roamed up and down her thighs.

Rachel grinned as she twisted her hands behind her to undo her bra. Once that was discarded, she tore open the condom wrapper with her teeth. "But then we wouldn't have this charming reunion," she pointed out. She liked this better anyway - it had been a long year, but Kyle was stretched out in her bed, not some cheap motel off the highway. It wasn't the booze tricking him into thinking he wanted her.

She lifted herself up, and together they wrestled Kyle's boxers off. He was already hard with want before she wrapped her fingers around him, but a little extra care never hurt. He hissed as she spread the cool latex over him - for a moment, Rachel was almost positive he was making his bourbon face. Hoping to surprise him, she shifted her hips to take him inside her as soon as she was ready.

"Rachel…."

Her name seemed to take on a different meaning when spoke through his voice, and it filled her with delight as easily as his flesh. She savored it for a moment, watching his throat constrict with a hard swallow. But soon his hands were groping eagerly at her waist, and her own body was aching too deeply to withhold this long-awaited pleasure any longer. Many nights' worth of imagination spurred her on, moving against him unhurriedly at first. With her hands braced lightly against his stomach she made love to him with all the slow sensuality her feminine composure could muster.

"Oh Kyle…." Rachel sucked her lower lip between her teeth as the tugging of his hands encouraged her to speed up. He was flushed and breathing hard beneath her, his face a strained mask of lust. For once, those deep brown eyes of his were focused entirely on the present - or, more accurately, the sway of her unbound breasts. Rachel arched her back for a better show and chuckled to herself. "I told you…we were perfect together…."

Kyle groaned deeply, and suddenly fresh strength fueled his hands - he took her soundly by the hips and lifted her off him. Rachel could only manage a surprised squeak as she found herself abruptly off balance and tipping onto her side. But he had a firm grip on her, and though she landed with her back awfully close to the edge of the mattress, she wasn't in danger of falling with his arm suddenly around her.

He reentered her deftly, the sudden pressure of his hips making Rachel see white. Her carefully choreographed fantasy was seared away by the unexpectedly heated rhythm of his body as he rocked her into the mattress. Writhing and breathless, Rachel twisted her limbs around his sturdy frame. Each quick thrust made her tingle with a passion she hadn't felt in years.

"Oh God…." Rachel moaned loudly, though the sound was quickly lost to Kyle's hot and hungry mouth. The low growl of his voice made her toes curl. Like animals they twisted and arched against each other atop her good sheets, pressing finger-shaped bruises into their backs. It was more than Rachel had ever let herself hope, made even sweeter her name, whispered into her ear as each approached the end of their stamina.

Rachel shuddered with the startling gravity of that moment of climax. When she cried out she couldn't be sure if it was Kyle's name or some vulgarity that sprang from her kiss-swollen lips. Tangled together they quivered and gasped until both were spent. Already the sweat was beginning to dry off her brow.

Kyle kissed her again. She had never figured him a romantic, but it seemed obvious he was trying to make some kind of gesture, as he didn't even half his full breath back - she could feel it hissing from his nose as their lips met. She hummed contentedly against his mouth and finally urged him back.

Rachel didn't consider herself a romantic, either. But something about his fatigued face dug under her skin, and any smart remark she might have been planning escaped her. "Kyle…."

He pulled carefully out of her, and groaned softly as he rolled onto his side. He looked exhausted, but not in the broken down, hangover kind of way. She rather liked the expression of weary satisfaction. "Yeah?"

Rachel twisted to better see him, but her bottom lip retreated between her teeth before she could get the words out. A little butterfly crawled into her stomach. "Listen, Kyle," she tried again. "You…."

Kyle watched her, as curious and attentive as a man running on empty could. "What is it, Rachel?"

"Do you…want to finish that drink?"

Kyle's brow perked. Surely he wouldn't have to call on his experience as a detective to realize she had recoiled. But he smiled, and gave her cheek a rub with his thumb before sitting up. "Sure. I'll bring it in here."

"Great idea." Rachel was disappointed with herself, but it wasn't the first time. She slipped her lower half between the bed sheets as she watched him stand. "Don't bother with the glasses."

Kyle tossed the condom into her wastebasket and stretched his shoulders. "By the way," he added. "I don't have any plans." He gave the back of his head a scratch. "I mean, I'm not leaving the city again anytime soon."

A smile, quiet but sincere, spread gradually across Rachel's face. "That's…good to know."

Kyle glanced at her over his shoulder, looking momentarily embarrassed. "I'll be right back."

He left for the kitchen, leaving Rachel to smile at his back while she waited for him to return.


End file.
